Covered Market needs promotion to boost fortunes

JOHN Partington, owner of Oxford Covered Market’s now defunct Chocology shop, summed up the thoughts of some traders when he landed a barbed parting shot at owners Oxford City Council.

Mr Partington – whose rent was recommended to go from £35,000 to £40,000 – this month told the Oxford Mail: “They are trying to screw us all the time.”

The departure of the shop – which had been operating in the 239-year-old city centre venue since 2001 – is the latest twist in a saga that the Labour-run authority says it is doing everything it can to resolve.